The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1887-08-13

carts and other small wagons are drawn by
dogs and men, or oftener by dogs and wOm-
en-. The dogs are willing to work and will
pull heroically at ones SIDE But each in
sists upon having a human yoke fellow. They
cannot be driven in pairs. Perhaps the dog
thinks that the master will know much bet
ter when the wheels of the cart are tired or
need rest, if trotting along by his dog
ships side than if riding in the wagonette.
The dog is something of philosopher. A
German market place with 200 or 800 dogs
harnessed into as many little carts and usu-
ally lying down in their harness while the
women sell out the flowers and fruit and veg
etables is picturesque sight.
The oxen are fastened to the wagons by
their horns and never by yokes such as we
see In America. A single horse or OK is Of
ten hitched to light wagon with pole or a
tongue rather than with thills or shafts in
which we drive all single horses. This looks
awkward enough and am sure the horses
are ashamed of such a crude arrangement.
Nevertheless have not found any horses
that wish to change their German for Amer
lean masters. Upon the contrary / have not
seen poor or an abused animal in all
Switzerland and Germany, and have never
seen so many large, fat horses in all my
life before.
"1n Germany, where,the good old-fashioned
doctrine of wifely subsection prevails, the
common women so far from finding the ease
and protection which the old doctrine is
to work In the fields, to haul the vegetables
to market with the dog lin one case | saw
the husband riding behind his wife and the
dog to see that his wife did not impose upon
the dog, to carry bricks and mortar for the
builders, and to sweep the streets in most of
the cities. must add, too, that the streets
are generally cleaner here than with us. l
think l have discovered a trouble in the
street departments of American cities. The
fact is, men were not made to sweep streets
nlVSlQIl
skill. Woman's greater success in this de-
partment is pr0vdential indication that
this is woman's work. Our American street
laborers have all that they can do to smoke,
ana keep the seats warm at the saloons, and
nx the caucusses, and rule their households.
No wonder they cannot keep the streets
clean, poor fellows
The only instrument of torture which |
have greatly enjoyed is the ducking stool, or
more properly the ducking cage. 1t is a
large wooden cage, which could be lowered
by pully into the river and drawn up again
If the rope or puly did'not give out. Into
this the baker was put when the bread hap
pened to be of short weight. with loaf of
light weight bread upon the outside of
the cage, and both were gently low
cred into the river. This was no
reflection upon sthe bakers honesty. 1t
was gentle hint that he must have been alb
sent from the bakery and the servants must
have tempered with the loaf. 1t was conf
the river seven or eight times the baker
would enjoy standing by the oven at least
while his clothes were damp, and that no dis
honesty could occur under his personal over
sight. Into this ducking cage women, too,
were placed when their voices rose above a
certain pitch in scolding their meek hus-
bands. TWAS believed that the'water would
have cooling influence upon their excited
nerves, and that their voices might be grad
ually lowered to the gentle murmur of the
waves as they grugled through the cage or
closed peacefully over the top. What vir-
tues even our ancestors discovered in the
water curei How delightful for the vouDe
German to take his bride upon the wedding
trip to see these dear memorials of their
sainted ancestors and of the happy old time
homes!
We have seen 100000 paintings. more or
less. We are sufficiently Puritan to wish
considerably over $4,000 of them burned. in.
Guiding many by Rubens and other so-called
masters. for the impure taste revealed in
them. Why should we respect an unchaste
brush more than unchaste dress or converse
ton? There are many paintings, however,
of historic places and events, of historic
persons, of beautiful landscapes and ami
mails and happy children, and sanity men
and women, and especially of the ideals
which we are ever failing to realize, but
which never leave the pure and earnest soul,
that are simply of priceless value. The two
best examples of these are Leonardo da
Vinci's Last Supper, and Raphael's Sistine
Madonna. The last is the most woderful
picture we have ever seen. Perhaps we
shall not see such strength and purity and
! loneliness realized this side of Heaven But
it is good to have the picture of it here, lust
as it is good to hear the story of the life OF
Christ on earth.